


just following orders (and other crimes against humanity)

by codedredalert



Series: One Piece daemon AU snapshots [3]
Category: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Daemon Touching, Gen, Mentorship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-05-12 06:31:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19223557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/codedredalert/pseuds/codedredalert
Summary: Corazón is asked to help in Law's desensitisation training. If he weren't pretending to be mute, he might have begged Law's forgiveness.





	just following orders (and other crimes against humanity)

**Author's Note:**

> Daemons are animal personifications of a person's soul. Touching them is taboo and can cause overwhelming feelings because it's someone's soul.

Donquixote Rosinante had done a lot of things he wasn't proud of in order to maintain his cover as Corazón but this took the cake. 

He pointed at Law's snow leopard daemon-- holy shit why was Law's daemon in Doffy's lap what the  _ hell what the. actual. hell.- _ \- and then at himself.

"It's desensitisation training," explained Doffy patiently. "Law needs to get used to as many different people touching his daemon as possible, so she can't be used against him." Doffy's voice dropped from its light-hearted tone. "You know what that's like." 

Rosinante carefully didn't blanch at the clear memory of angry villagers getting their hands on his own daemon. His daemon was a mynah bird, her neck ringed with a stark white scar. 

(It had been a fishing village, before Doffy and his future executives and razed it all to ashes.)

It had been a loop of fishing line, because the villagers were above laying hands on a child's daemon for too long but were not above forcing that daemon to distances it was never meant to be--  _ tearing _ a soul bond apart with a horrible, horrible finality that meant Rosinante would never be whole again.

Nothing else had felt so wrong or hurt so much in Rosinante's entire life. It was like his insides had been scraped out of his skin and left hollow. The feeling never quite went away, turning his stomach and plaguing his sleep with nightmares.

How could anyone possibly be  _ desensitised _ to that? How could a child? How could Doffy even ask this-- of Rosinante, of Law? 

(Doffy's flamingo had a line around her throat too, but white scars on light pink showed far less.)

Rosinante pointed at himself again and made a questioning gesture with his hand. ' _ Why me?'  _

"Because Law doesn't like you very much." Doffy laughed and Rosinante felt sick. "There's no point to this if he's not challenged." 

Rosinante looked at Law and then looked at Doffy. He took out his notebook and pen and scribbled one word, held it up. 

_ 'Permission _ ?' Rosinante waved the paper at Law. Doffy frowned but Rosinante didn't care. Doffy didn't own Law's soul.

"What, are you asking  _ me _ ?" Law's voice was amused and he even had a little smirk on his face. God what had Doffy done to this child. "Yeah, sure. Whatever." 

Rosinante nodded acknowledgment and held out a hand to show he'd do as Doffy asked. 

"Go on," Doffy said to the leopard. 

The leopard jumped off Doffy's lap and padded over to Rosinante. 

"If you set me on fire, I'll bite you," she warned. 

"No, you won't," ordered Doffy from his seat at the table, a finger absently tapping in impatience. "Go on, Corazón." 

With a mental apology to Law, Rosinante crouched and gently put one hand on the leopard's head. His palm dwarfed the space between her eyes. From across the room, Law's body was carefully arranged to convey boredom, his legs crossed and his chin resting on a tiny hand. In the shadow of his hat, Law's looked at Rosinante with malicious amusement, not a hint of unease or pain. 

On his shoulder, Rosinante's mynah started tearing the feathers off his coat. 

 


End file.
